Israel issues ‘urgent’ warning of terrorist attacks in Sinai

Israel on Tuesday night issued an urgent warning of impending terrorist
attacks aimed at tourists in the popular resorts of Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.

By Samer al-Atrush in Cairo and Richard Spencer

7:23PM BST 13 Apr 2010

The anti-terror office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said it was advising all Israeli tourists to leave the Sinai.

It asked families who had relatives on holiday there to contact them and update them on the warning.

It said it had “concrete evidence” of an attempt to kidnap Israelis who had crossed the Egyptian border to the peninsula’s Red Sea resorts.

The resorts, particularly Sharm el-Sheikh on the peninsula’s tip, are also popular with British and other European holiday-makers, and the Foreign Office was last night thought to be reviewing the situation.

Sharm el-Sheikh and the nearby towns of Taba and Dahab have all seen bomb attacks in recent years. Two Britons were among 70 people killed in the attack on Sharm el-Sheikh in 2005, while a year before 34 people were killed at Taba, on the Israeli border.

Twenty people died in the attack on Dahab in 2006.

Since then, Israeli intelligence agencies have focused on the threat posed by Sinai, which was under Israeli occupation until the implementation of its peace deal with Egypt in 1982. Israeli citizens are advised not to holiday in the area, but tens of thousands visit every year.

Last year, a tip-off from Israeli intelligence agencies led to a series of raids by Egyptian security forces on what it said were Hizbollah cells that had infiltrated the country to attack tourist sites, particularly those frequented by Israelis.

Forty-nine people were arrested. Hizbollah said its operatives had been in Sinai as part of an operation to smuggle goods and weapons to its Hamas allies in Gaza, and had no plans to attack Egyptian territory.

An Egyptian security official, who was not authorised to give a public statement, on Tuesday night said agencies were aware of the Israeli warning and were making their own investigations. They had no independent corroboration, however.

The Israeli statement said the threat on this occasion came from “Hezbollah and Iran”. It followed on a more general warning issued in advance of the Passover holiday season for Israelis to be on their guard when visiting Egypt.